Eco-sustainable routing of power lines for the connection of renewable energy plants to the Italian high-voltage grid

Routing of high-voltage electric transmission lines for the connection of renewable energy-distributed generation plants is a critical issue from an environmental point of view. A standard methodology that accounts for multiple perspectives, influence factors and is able to mediate between weighted constraints can be a useful tool for the regulating bodies that are involved in approval processes. The methodology can be an effective support to increase reliability, save consumers' money and mitigate the unavoidable impacts of the lines on the population living nearby. In this paper we investigate the suitability of a procedure employed by Terna, the Italian high-voltage transmission system operator, to identify the corridors where to route new overhead transmission lines with the lowest environmental impact. The methodology is based on the subdivision of all the relevant constraints dictated by environmental issues and territory legislations in four main classes. A real case study concerning the design and connection of a wind farm placed near Collarmele, in the center of Italy, shows the effectiveness of the proposed methodology

Net solar generation potential from urban rooftops in Los Angeles

Rooftops provide accessible locations for solar energy installations. While rooftop solar arrays can offset in-building electricity needs, they may also stress electric grid operations. Here we present an analysis of net electricity generation potential from distributed rooftop solar in Los Angeles. We integrate spatial and temporal data for property-level electricity demands, rooftop solar generation potential, and grid capacity constraints to estimate the potential for solar to meet on-site demands and supply net exports to the electric grid. In the study area with 1.2 million parcels, rooftop solar could meet 7200 Gigawatt Hours (GWh) of on-site building demands (~29% of demand). Overall potential net generation is negative, meaning buildings use more electricity than they can produce. Yet, cumulative net export potential from solar to grid circuits is 16,400 GWh. Current policies that regulate solar array interconnection to the grid result in unutilized solar power output of 1700 MW. Lower-income and at-risk communities in LA have greater potential for exporting net solar generation to the grid. This potential should be recognized through investments and policy innovations. The method demonstrates the need for considering time-dependent calculations of net solar potential and offers a template for distributed renewable energy planning in cities

Disaster Resilience Education and Research Roadmap for Europe 2030 : ANDROID Report

A disaster resilience education and research roadmap for Europe 2030 has been launched. This roadmap represents an important output of the ANDROID disaster resilience network, bringing together existing literature in the field, as well as the results of various analysis and study projects undertaken by project partners.The roadmap sets out five key challenges and opportunities in moving from 2015 to 2030 and aimed at addressing the challenges of the recently announced Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. This roadmap was developed as part of the ANDROID Disaster Resilience Network, led by Professor Richard Haigh of the Global Disaster Resilience Centre (www.hud.ac.uk/gdrc ) at the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield, UK. The ANDROID consortium of applied, human, social and natural scientists, supported by international organisations and a stakeholder board, worked together to map the field in disaster resilience education, pool their results and findings, develop interdisciplinary explanations, develop capacity, move forward innovative education agendas, discuss methods, and inform policy development. Further information on ANDROID Disaster Resilience network is available at: http://www.disaster-resilience.netAn ANDROID Disaster Resilience Network ReportANDROI

GIS-based approach for assessing the energy potential and the financial feasibility of run-off-river hydro-power in Alpine valleys

In the last decade, European attractive policies are favoring the construction of new run-off hydro-power plants. The realization cost of these plants is quite low in mountain areas thanks to small water discharges and high gross heads. For this reason, small rivers have been strongly exploited without considering an optimal use of the resource. Nowadays, available sites are often in areas with low accessibility and a greater specific cost of civil engineering works. However, during the planning of new small hydro-power plants, the dependency of physical, technical, legal and financial variable on space is often not assessed. The tool presented in this paper addresses this gap to support the planning of run-off-river plants. The method improves on previous approaches by (1) integrating all the legal, technical and financial analysis in a GIS tool, and (2) trying to validate the site-specific model with local knowledge. The tool is applied to the Gesso and Vermenagna valleys in the Alps. Information and data were collected and discussed with local stakeholders in order to improve the model results

The political economy of Hong Kong's "open skies" legal regime: an empirical and theoretical exploration

Copyright 2009 San Diego International Law Journal. Reprinted with the permission of the San Diego International Law Journal.The article presents an empirical and theoretical research which describes the functions of the international legal regime through powerful economic forces in Hong Kong, China. The government applied aviation policies with respect to open skies platform to provide a basis for a thorough understanding of government's legitimacy based on neoclassical logic and analysis. Conceptual perspectives of realists, liberals and cognitivists were acknowledged by the economically-inspired nationalists

ANDROID: An Inter-disciplinary Academic Network that Promotes Co-operation and Innovation among European Higher Education to Increase Society's Resilience to Disasters

Using knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels is one of five priorities for action (PFA) that were identified in the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). The responsibility for such capacity building resides largely with educators such as higher education institutes, but the complexity of resilience poses a number of challenges. This paper describes ANDROID, an EU funded international partnership of higher education institutes and key actors in disaster resilience, which has been formed to develop innovative European education. ANDROID is based on an inter-disciplinary consortium of partners that comprises scientists from applied, human, social and natural disciplines. ANDROID set out to achieve this aim through a series of inter-linked projects, identified as work packages and led by a sub-group of international partners. This paper describes these projects and highlights key outputs achieved to date: an inter-disciplinary doctoral school; a survey capturing and sharing innovative approaches to inter-disciplinary working; a survey of European education to map teaching and research programmes in disaster resilience; a survey analysing the capacity of European public administrators to address disaster risk; emerging research and teaching concerns in disaster resilience; and, open educational resources